Tuesday May 13, 11:07 AM
WALL STREET OUTLOOK Lower open seen ahead of retail sales, Bernanke
LONDON (Thomson Financial) - Wall Street is on track for a lower open on Tuesday in cautious trade ahead ahead of Wal-mart Stores Inc. earnings, retail sales data and a raft of speeches from Federal Reserve officials led by chairman Ben Bernanke.
Electronic Data Systems Corp. and Hewlett-Packard Co. will also supply an early focus as the two companies confirmed they were in talks about a possible merger.
According to spread bettors IG Index, the Dow Jones Industrial Average is expected to open down 34 points at 12,842. Separately, S&P 500 futures were off 4 points at 1,400.70 while Nasdaq 100 (NASDAQ: news) futures dropped 3.75 points at 1,994.75.
On Monday, stocks ended higher as oil prices fell back and alleviated some investors' concerns about accelerating inflation. The Dow industrials gained 130 points.
Crude futures continued to pull back on Tuesday as the International Energy Agency slashed its forecast for global crude demand, and with investors cashing in profits after Monday's record high.
New York light sweet crude for June delivery was down 45 cents at $123.78 per barrel, off a record high of $126.40.
On the economic calendar, retail sales for April are expected to have dipped 0.1 percent, according to the mean estimate of economists polled by Thomson Reuters (TRI.TO - news) ' IFR Markets.
Excluding auto sales, retail sales are seen ticking up 0.3 percent.
March business inventories are also scheduled for release.
Bernanke and several other central bank officials are scheduled to speak, with investors looking for clues on how the Fed intends to proceed on interest rates.
Shares in Electronic Data Systems (NYSE: EDS - news) are likely to see a second day of active trading as the company and Hewlett-Packard confirmed the two were in talks about a possible merger.
Their confirmation came after the Wall Street Journal said H-P was negotiating a deal in which it would buy the technology services provider for about $12 billion to $13 billion.
Wal-Mart is expected to report quarterly earnings of 75 cents on revenue of $93.47 billion.
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